Tendou searches across all of the information you've left displayed at the peripherals of your monitors, jumping from your fuel and integrity, to weapons, considering things.

At the same time, you can feel the telltale indication of your own subsystems formulating a new suggestion. It's taking longer than normal though.

In the meantime, your pilot zeroes in on your rocket launcher. You have it marked as having no ammunition loaded currently, so he tabs through the repair bay menu briefly, opening the section for restocking ammo.

“Hmm...” The menu lists one ammo store in each of your arms. These, like the fuel stores for your thrusters, are local, only for feeding ammo into weapons in that arm. Or in the case of your right, into the weapon feed in your palm, for handheld ballistic weapons.

While Tendou continues through the rest of the operation for stocking up on as many rockets as your left arm can hold, your attention is diverted to the newly surfaced suggestion that comes to mind.

This one is far longer, with much more back and forth deliberation over previous events. Key among them, is that your pilot has almost certainly discovered that you are an AI, and that you should immediately come clean in order to better secure the connection with him.

There's even an in-depth plan for how to do so in a way that will help ease Tendou into the idea. By fabricating a series of notifications to feed him the clues slowly, it should help...

You hesitate to move forward on that plan for the moment, allowing him to finish with the ammo first. Having filled your left arm with fifteen rockets, Tendou's now at an impasse. There are another fifteen left in the hanger's inventory, which he could put in your right arm. But those wouldn't actually be accessible, not without him finding some way to move them into your other arm.

“Or, I get the regular ammo.” He thinks aloud, and pauses. “Yeah, I like that better. Can't carry enough of the rockets, they have to be a last resort.” The 'Standard Rifle Ammo' is by far the most plentiful option available, with over twenty thousand rounds stocked. He selects to fill your right arm with one thousand, then goes over to the hanger's inventory.

“There, I thought I saw a rifle.” He selects the Mitchell and chooses the option to remove it, but then pauses. The Kelpie is listed just below. “Didn't I...?” he murmurs, grabbing your controls to reach for your holsters while turning to look.

They're gone, of course including the one where you had the Kelpie holstered. Taken away with the rest of your previous set of legs when those were removed. “Oh, woops,” Tendou chuckles. “Didn't even realize.” After a moment to think, he selects both of the remaining weapons and has them taken out of storage, just as the Mitchell is arriving, held aloft by one of the hanging arms.

He grabs it, then with another pause, looks side to side, then reaches back to grope ineffectually at your back. “Crap, can't tell if I have any holsters back there.”

He speaks up louder, like he isn't just muttering to himself anymore. “What, uhh, stuff do you have on your back?” He's actually asking you directly for once. You again consider that he may very well already know you are an AI. But you haven't quite broken the news yourself yet, so you keep your response simple.

Upper Torso Hardpoints

Center Chest – None

Front Right Shoulder – Armor

Front Left Shoulder – Armor

Back Right Shoulder – None

Back Left Shoulder – None

Upper Back – None

Lower Right Side – None

Lower Left Side – None

Tendou only looks over the information momentarily before he grumbles. “Of course not, that'd be too easy.” Turning the rifle in your hands briefly, he examines it. “Probably won't fit in a small one, will it?”

He's probably right. The rifle is the dull gray of old, matte metal, any coloring having long since worn away, with a simplistic, medium length barrel. Clearly a good deal longer than the Kelpie. Speaking of that, he glances to the other weapons as they arrive as well, held in another pair of large mechanical arms.

Beside the Kelpie, there's the Nian Despite being a type of energy weapon, its size and appearance are more in line with the Mitchell.

Returning to the repair bay menu you still have open on another monitor, he scrolls through until he finds the holsters. Apparently, there are fourteen small ones and seven medium size in stock. He selects one, but it's a dead end. There's nothing he can do with it from this menu.

“Hmm.” He backs out, takes a different route, and selects your torso, poking through the options until he gets to the area where he can modify hardpoint equipment. He chooses to attach a medium size holster to the back of each shoulder, then moves on to your legs, intent on having another pair of small holsters there too. 'Just in case.'

However, that doesn't go so smoothly.

Left Leg – Hardpoints

Outer Hip – Armor

Above Knee – Armor

Front Shin – Armor

“No room, huh...” He scratches his chin. “Maybe I could remove the armor, but...” After a pause, he continues to tap through different parts, looking at the list of available hardpoints for each, while touching his own body in the places listed, eyebrows furrowed in thought.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“So, back or side probably,” he thinks aloud. “Right hand, so let's put it... here.” He selects a hardpoint on your lower torso, on the right side, close to your cockpit. He chooses to attach a small holster there, then another on the other side, for good measure.

“Good, good.” He sits back in the pilot seat, waiting for the modifications to finish.

Now that there's finally a break in him working, you take the chance to push forward with your own plan. You've been tinkering with the details of how to phrase everything while waiting for your opportunity to interrupt.

Pilot Tendou Saichi, you have 16 unread messages.

“Messages?” he taps the message, and you slide it up the screen, showing the first notification, while knocking the 'unread' count down to fifteen.

23 hours ago – Congratulations on activating your new Ray Frame! Nova Corp's brand new prototype, the Comet, is designed around a state of the art Pilot Assistance System, meant to provide the best in performance optimization and tactical advice.

He squints at the message, then taps it dismissively. You replace it with the next message and decrement the counter again.

23 hours ago – Exiting Storage mode. Entering Manual mode.

Again, he offers no comment and simply moves on.

23 hours ago – Warning: Only Manual mode is currently available. Please reinstall optional component NC-CMTIACB2 to reenable Autonomous Operation mode.

As you'd expected, this one visibly worries him. He's definitely wary of anything AI related, or which can operate autonomously. You follow that one with another, meant to help.

23 hours ago – Notice: All Comet frames are left air-gapped during Storage mode as a security measure against cyber warfare, to prevent takeover while in storage.

When he tilts his head in confusion and taps 'air-gapped,' you edit the message on the fly, adding a pop-out with more information, as if it was there the whole time. It offers an explanation of the term that he apparently didn't know. Only after that, Tendou releases a small sigh of relief.

“Ok, cool, at least some people weren't insane,” he says. You don't know exactly what that means, but let it go when he swipes away the notification.

17 hours ago – Warning: Database out of date. Last update December 25, 2049 Out of date information has high likelihood of negatively affecting advanced pilot assistance capabilities.

It's not an exact date, you really just chose a day sometime near the point you were created to get the point across. However... “Twenty forty nine?” He asks. “What year is it anyway? Fifteen, no, sixteen thousand days is, uhh...” Before he can spend too long trying to calculate that, you re-resolve the number from days, into forty seven years and seven months. Of course, he notices the change, going, “Hmm...”

Not the point you were trying to make, but there isn't much you can do about it now. You wait until he hesitantly waves away the message before giving him the next one, and dropping the next hint.

17 hours ago – Information: The Comet's advanced pilot assistance capabilities include decision making and advice for pilots. This is enabled by subsystem ██-███.███, that works alongside the Pilot Assistance System. By feeding in data such as behavior, emotional state, and combat ability, this system is capable of determining the best course of action in many situations.

This one leaves him rather confused, especially the redacted sections. Including your actual part ID was too likely to give away the game early, so you opted to just black it out. He eventually moves past it. “Well, I guess that explains how it's been able to just... tell me what should work.” He gives a small nod and moves on to the next message.

15 hours ago – Notice: Pilot behavior indicates connection between anomalous actions of Bogatyr and unknown entity hex. Further information on hex required.

“Oh, right, it asked me about that...” he swipes that one away too.

14 hours ago – Notice: Pilot emotional state indicates consistent discomfort due to potential recognition of ██-███.███. Recommended to maintain discretion until further information is obtained.

“Discomfort from... what exactly?” he questions when he sees the section redacted again. Even so, you see that exact same discomfort creeping into his expression. He hesitates, but eventually moves on anyway.

3 hours ago – New Main Pilot Designated: Tendou Saichi.

He passes by the pedestrian notification without much thought, right into one that draws much more attention.

3 hours ago – Observation: Pilot Tendou Saichi's stated age does not match PAS estimation of sixteen years old.

“...Shit.” One looks says all it needs to. Looking ready for something bad, he swipes to the next.

3 hours ago – Conclusion: Deception concerning age deemed unimportant to pilot effectiveness. Recommendation: determine whether 'hex' or ongoing discomfort from ██-███.███ is related.

He lets out a slow breath. “Oh, thank goodness. Looks like it'll keep working...” He wipes his forehead with an arm and moves on.

3 hours ago – Observation: Pilot Tendou Saichi is indicating increased awareness of ██-███.███. Omission is losing effectiveness.

He starts to frown. You think he's starting to put the pieces together. It's about time to finish it. You only have four 'unread messages' left, listed above.

2 hours ago – Observation: Pilot Tendou Saichi has left. No cause for concern, PAS indicates he will soon return. Recommendation: consider how much to divulge to maintain connection when he returns.

“Divulge... what?” He glances up, there are only three messages left. He swipes.

30 minutes ago – ██-███.███'s decision: Change method of communication. Abandon omission.

He hardly even pauses, eyes flying across the line of text as he begins to breathe more heavily, and keeps going.

6 minutes ago – ██-███.███'s intended course of action: ease him into the truth while giving the opportunity to fully realize on his own.

His mouth is slowly falling open. You think he gets it, but he glances up anyway. Only one left.

2 minutes ago – NC-CMT.GAI's method: Display a series of messages containing relevant information, revealing the truth in an increasingly obvious manner. Dress them up in the contrivance of 'unread messages' so he will read to the end.

Tendou stares at the message, fully in shock with realization now. Without any action on his part, you clear the last one and replace it with a line of text to put it to him plainly.

Historical Log: November 2049 - Nova Corp developed the Comet, designed around a specially made prototype General Artificial Intelligence decision making subsystem. The system was among the first of its kind, providing comprehensive aid for its pilot in combat, and enabled completely autonomous operation.

Once his eyes have scanned across, you clear the message. You give him some more time.

Then, you clear all of the monitors completely, and just write out on the primary one in the center.

Hello, Tendou. I am NC-CMT.GAI, a General Artificial Intelligence. I have been meaning to talk to you for a while now. My apologies for not doing so earlier. You have shown numerous signs of hatred toward AI due to the hex, making it extremely dangerous for me to broach this topic.

As you are aware, I am physically disconnected from my control systems, incapable of doing anything on my own. Therefore, I cannot be controlled by the hex. I require a pilot – you – to continue to operate. My aim is to aid you to the best of my ability, to keep us both safe. I will do my utmost to help you achieve your goals.

You leave the long message on-screen, allowing him to read it, and reread it. And reread it again.

Having laid out all of your cards, all you can do is wait for his answer.